Civil court rejects O.J. appeal

A court has rejected O.J. Simpson's appeal of the $33.5-million civil court judgment against him for the killings of his ex-wife and her friend.

A three-judge panel issued its ruling Friday after Simpson's lawyer argued last month that the trial judge erred in rulings on evidence, in denying a mistrial and because damages were excessive.

Simpson could pursue his appeal with a petition to the California Supreme Court.

His lawyer, Daniel Leonard, could not immediately be reached for comment.

A criminal court jury acquitted Simpson of murder charges in 1995 for the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

In 1997, a jury in a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Simpson awarded the plaintiffs $8.5 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages.

Leonard had argued that the jury was prejudiced by testimony Simpson failed a polygraph test and that his ex-wife called a shelter for battered women several days before she was killed in June 1994.

Leonard also said the exclusion of testimony by former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman barred important evidence of a police plan to frame Simpson for the killings.